It was a rodeo to park on Rehoboth Ave. for Sea Witch

As it always does, the Sea Witch Festival took over Rehoboth Beach for three days last weekend. It’s always interesting to see the crowds and costumes, but this year I was most interested in how parking on Rehoboth Avenue would play out with a new rule in place preventing overnight parking the Thursday before the event.

I haven’t heard of any fights breaking out over spots, but it does sounds like it was an every-man-for-themselves situation for the coveted real estate. I picture drivers playing musical chairs with parking spaces.

I knew something was up when I got a text from Gazette delivery driver Loraine a little before 7 a.m. to call her as soon as I could. A couple minutes later, she was explaining that she had gotten to Rehoboth around 5:30 a.m., but couldn’t get onto Rehoboth Avenue because the city had it blocked. She wanted to let me know in case someone called about not getting papers. 

Pretty soon after, I reached out to the city. City Manager Taylour Tedder said nine vehicles were towed during the operation.

“By 6:30 a.m., the Avenue was completely full, with no parking spaces remaining,” said Tedder.

Jon Webber said Rehoboth Avenue was full even earlier. He was standing on the bed of his truck the morning of the parade preparing to watch it with his wife Robin, daughter Brittany and granddaughter Charlotte. The truck was parked on the north side of Rehoboth Avenue’s second block, in front of The Beach Shop, the morning of the parade.

Webber said he and Robin left their house around 5 a.m., made their way to the north side of town and waited on Olive Avenue. When the witching hour hit, they headed south on North First Street, took a right and were able to park in their normal area.

“By three minutes after 6, we were parked. We always park on this side,” said Webber. “By 10 minutes after 6, there was nothing.”

Tedder said the city decided to close Rehoboth Avenue at 4 a.m. because of several social media posts discussing parking strategies that had the potential to create unnecessary conflicts. Vehicles were still able to cross north and south, but access to Rehoboth Avenue itself was restricted, he said.

“From the city’s perspective, the operation was successful and effectively addressed the concerns raised from previous years,” said Tedder.

Flagged stakes on Sweetbriar

I’m not on Sweetbriar Road outside Lewes daily, but pretty often.

Recently, in the area where the Hopkins Preserve will be, dozens of flagged stakes appeared in the field immediately next to the road.

The preserve is a Sussex County Land Trust project that includes 52 acres along the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail. The property contains 11 acres of preserved forest dating back at least 100 years. Purchased for $1.5 million with Sussex County Council open-space funds, the preserve’s plans include seasonal wetlands, a meadow, 10 acres of reforestation, a multipurpose ADA trail around the perimeter, access to the adjacent Tall Pines community, a restroom, signage, bike racks, picnic tables and benches.

The flagged wooden stakes of development aren’t new to anyone who drives the local roads, but it was the amount in such a small area that caught my eye. The photo I’ve included doesn’t do it justice, but there are stakes wrapped with flags that are orange and white, just orange, pink and white, just pink, yellow and white, just yellow, blue and white, and just blue. There were no white flags all alone.

Carlton Savage, senior engineer for Scaled Engineering, said the stakeout is for the beginning stages of the project. The contractor asked for limited disturbance for ponds and swale grades, he said.

The different colors were requested for different elevation contours within the pond, said Savage. The ones with white mixed in signify offsets to those same colors, he said.

Mark Chura, Sussex County Land Trust director of conservation, said all the stakes are needed to make sure contractors conform to specific regulations.

“I don’t if know I’ve ever seen so many like this before,” said Chura. “It reminds me of all the flags put out by the high school for Memorial Day.”

Joke of the Week

I took up too much space already, so I’m keeping this short. Daylight saving time ends this weekend. As always, send jokes to cflood@capegazette.com.

Q: When did the duck wake up the morning after clocks were turned back?

A: At the quack of dawn.